


Untitled

by samanthanicole



Category: Harry Styles - Fandom, Louis Tomlinson - Fandom, One Direction, liam payne - Fandom, niall horan - Fandom, zayn malik - Fandom
Genre: Alcoholism, Depression, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 15:46:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16997910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samanthanicole/pseuds/samanthanicole





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Niall opened his eyes to face the dark, starlit sky. A comforting breeze surrounds him as he lied there on the cold pavement. He slept in the streets of New York City once again; his home was just three blocks away from where he was lying, although he didn’t care much at all… he was far too buzzed to walk home. 

He didn’t feel surprised when he looked beside himself to see plenty of empty pint bottles of Jameson Irish Whiskey scattered on the pavement. Today’s memories leading up to this curbside are all a fuzzy blur, all that he can remember was tripping over the curb and being too drunk to lift himself up and make it home, or somewhere safe rather. It was clear to everyone who could see him that he had started drinking early again, it was only eight o’clock by the time he blacked out on the side of the road, and it’s now midnight. 

Niall nearly threw up as he placed his hands on the cement to push himself up. He rubbed his very tired and blurry eyes, hoping to regain a steady vision, and then let out a loud sigh.  
On December 13, 2015, One Direction performed for the last time together before the start of the hiatus. It happened so fast that no one had even noticed Niall’s downward spiral into his depression. The band was his pride and joy, and to have that taken away from him damn near destroyed him and his ego. 

As the days passed he got more and more overwhelmed with everything going on around him. Rumors circulated around the tabloids suggesting that he had been involved with heavy drugs and hooking up with random models around the world. No matter what country he visited, there were always photo shopped shots of him blasted all over the internet the next day. 

Being the “innocent” face of One Direction, his management team was furious with the bad publicity he was receiving. All interviews, shows, and promotional events that were planned over the next three months were postponed or canceled. The team gave him those three months to gain control over his life, and most importantly to start his anger management and depression therapy. If he hadn’t recovered or “fixed” himself by then they threatened to cancel his upcoming album release and tour, which would cause an immediate end to his solo career. His dream was dependent on his problems being resolved, which wasn’t as easy as everyone had thought it would be. 

The boys tried their hardest to keep in contact with Niall, but having their own lives and careers to focus on basically put him on the back- burner, or that’s how he felt at least.  
After hearing of all the cancellations, his mother begged him to stay in his childhood home. She wanted to remind him of where he came from, who he is, and why he started his music career in the first place. The thought of her son’s dreams being crushed almost destroyed her. She believed in him the most, even when he didn’t believe in himself. After refusing her offer, Niall purchased an apartment here in the city that over-looks central park and now lives on his own here.

Unfortunately, things had already spiraled further out of control after just one week of this break in his career. Niall started to drink more often than anyone should. He drank away his problems and stress one day after another until he could no longer remember what he was going through. This wasn’t something anyone else would be able to understand; the pain of knowing that your old self might be gone forever, never to come back.

As far as Niall can see it, he was completely alone.

After finally deciding to push himself up off the ground, he nearly lost his balance as he started walking down the road. He could feel the stares of people watching and hear their whispers back and forth about the “drunk” on the side of the road. He was almost unrecognizable at this point. The famous blonde highlights had grown out, leaving him with a dark brunette hair color. All of the blues in his eyes had faded into a dark grey that was surrounded by redness and dark circles under his eyes. Most importantly, that smile that everyone grew to love had disappeared from his face, only to be replaced with the saddest of frowns. 

He simply didn’t care anymore. 

All he wanted to do tonight was finding somewhere to go besides “home” because to him it was anything but a home. It was just an apartment, possibly one of the most expensive and gorgeous apartments over looking the city, but still… just an apartment. Just four walls surrounding him in silence and reminders of his failures. No one was ever there to be with him, other than the door man he said hello too as he stumbled through the lobby and to the elevator. No one was ever there to laugh with him when he said something amusing.

There was nobody he could fall for… No one that he could love, or that would love him back unconditionally…

Across the street from where Niall was standing, there was this pub. It was a brick building with green shutter, white trimming, and a big neon sign that spelt out “O’Brien’s Irish Pub”. Niall had seen this building before but he had always over looked it as he walked to the next liquor store. Since he didn’t want to go to his apartment he slowly walked to the pub, tripping over his own two feet up the steps and through the dark green door.


	2. Chapter 2

It was just like any other dive. Darts, billiards, and a dance floor tucked into the far corner to “appeal to the younger demographic” of New York City, Niall guessed. It seemed to be working, the place was nearly too packed to even move around. There had been some kind of sport re-run playing on the multitude of television screens. 

“Let me get a scotch on the rocks. Make it a double” he ordered after skimming through the wall of liquor with his eyes. Niall tried to follow along with the game, but he didn’t really care enough. He came here to get away from everything, and to get shit faced. The seats to the right of him had just been vacated, and just as quickly it was taken up again by a few women who seemed to be celebrating an engagement, very loudly much to Niall’s dismay. 

“That’s not how you order a scotch, son” spoke an older man wearing an NYPD sweatshirt and worn out jeans as he took the barstool on Niall’s left side. Niall turned his head. 

“Excuse me?” Niall glared.

“You don’t order scotch on the rocks, it ruins the taste.” The old man replied, partially facing the much younger stranger who was easily offended by the older and much more experienced man.

“Do you consider yourself an expert?” Niall spoke back sarcastically. “So tell me, why is it that I shouldn’t have scotch on the rocks, exactly?”

“It dilutes the scotch with whatever minerals are in the ice. Ruins the taste.” He shrugged as he signaled to the bartender for his third drink since he arrived. 

“Are you serious?” Niall asked. “That’s moronic.”

“Excuse me?” The stranger asked. It was apparently his turn to be offended. 

“I’m trying to get drunk, and hard liquor happens to be the quickest means to the end,” he said. “Who cares about the taste?”

“How about the brewers?” he replied, downing his own drink and ordering another.

“I doubt they care as long as they make money off of it…just like any other producer of goods.”

“Crafting whiskey is an art,” he said, and Niall scoffed, finishing off his drink and putting the glass on the bar. “Brewery masters spend years perfecting-”

“Oh horseshit, the only people who care about that are snobs like you.” He interrupted goading the other man on who was getting a little tipsy himself. 

“I’m not trying to argue with a man who is half my age; I’m just letting you know the proper way of being a functioning alcoholic.” He hesitated to laugh as he tried joking around to lighten the mood.

“Yeah, whatever dude.” Niall said before looking down at his glass and taking another sip. Niall took a long look around the bar he was in and began to realize the crazy amount of couples surrounding him. Men all around him were pulling their girlfriends into their laps, wrapping their arms around them, and nuzzling his face into her neck, He scoffed as he took the last sip of his drink and ordered another. Why can’t he have that? 

“Do you have a little lady?” randomly asked the stranger beside Niall. 

“No.” he quickly responded. “Don’t have much time or energy for one, I guess.” 

“There’s nothing wrong with not being in a relationship, you know? You might feel like you’re on a slower timeline than everyone else, but its nothing to worry about. People do things on their own time. You’ll find that special girl, even if right now feels like you won’t.” He paused. “You remind me of myself when I was younger, I always thought the whole world was in love but me, everyone found that special person but me. But believe it or not there are tons of other people like you, just let it happen when the time is right. Love works on its own schedule.” 

Niall thought long and hard about his comment. Love works on its own schedule. “What if I don’t want to wait any longer? What if I can’t stand on my own two feet for another moment? How much longer could I wait without going mentally insane? Am I already insane?” His thoughts clouded his mind as the older man downed the rest of his drink. Something about this man suddenly felt comforting and fatherly to Niall, as weird as that seems.

“Well young man, I better get going. My grandchildren are stopping by early in the morning. Thanks for the chat, and I’m sorry if I offended you.” 

“No sir, I apologize I haven’t been myself recently and I shouldn’t have snapped on you like I did. My name’s Niall, by the way, Niall Horan.” 

“Frank, Frank O’Brien.” He shook Nialls hand and walked behind the bar to grab his things.

“As in the owner of this bar, O’Brien?” His new friend shook his head and smiled.

“Yes, I hope to see you here again soon.” He smiled and whispered something into his bartender’s ear before walking towards the door leaving Niall alone to drink his night away yet again. “Get home safe, Niall”.


End file.
